Too far!
The Philippines is the Go Lag Archipelago in the matter of publishing papers in technical journals in agriculture – because Editors In Chief don’t care enough for readers! This is your Editor In Chief speaking.
Actually, there are 2 lags: (1) from Research to Publication, and (2) from Publication to Extension. (images from Go Lag Book & Ride[1], PH map[2] Fine Art America)
The problem of lag lies mostly in aggie universities, including UP Los Baños, the #1 aggie university in the Philippines:
Technical publication is neglected;
Popularization is neglected;
Extension is neglected!
Today, via Facebook sharing, I am reading Glenn B Gregorio’s with co-author Rico C Ancog’s technical paper published in the Central Mindanao University Journal of Science of 02 July 2020: “Food Security Amid The COVID-19 Pandemic: Research And Development Priorities For Higher Education Institutions In The Philippines And Southeast Asia.” Mr Gregorio is SEARCA Director, so I will refer to it as the SEARCA paper.
I note especially this from the paper:
“The need to ensure that research efforts would have significant societal impacts is a philosophy that must be widely upheld.”
We must publish research, popularize the technical, and extend the knowledge so farmers can apply it.
As past Editor In Chief of many a PH technical publication, the twin problems I have seen are:
(1) Few researches are published in technical journals.
(2) Few research results are transformed into popular-language articles understandable by non-scientists.
Of the twin needs, the SEARCA paper says:
Scientists’ ability to tell the individual stories learned from their researches (is) invaluable for the general public to appreciate the value of science-based decision(-)making.
Scientists must relate experimental experience to field experience so farmers can decide for themselves what to do with new or improved knowledge. Nothing is automatic – no matter how good, knowledge does not apply itself!
Research results must be applied. Excellence is useless if it lies dormant in technical publications, libraries, or steel cabinets.
Speed is of the essence. As the one-man digital band Editor In Chief of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science, PJCS, 2001 to 2008, from being late 3 years, I brought the PJCS up to the ISI level where the editors of the previous 25 years failed. I am surprised that the CMU science journal received that SEARCA paper, accepted it on the same date, 20 June 2020, and published within 2 weeks – very fast! The journal must know something other journals don’t.
Now then, I know PH science journals, including within UP Los Baños, take sometimes 12 months to publish an issue. Because Publishing is still in the Pen-and-Paper Age, not yet Digital.
So, Filipino farmers remain imprisoned by a gulag of inadequate knowledge. Borrowing from the title of the SEARCA paper, I say higher educational institutions like UP Los Baños must release our cultivators from Knowledge Insecurity into Knowledge Security!@517
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